For over a year now, Samsung's 1TB Spinpoint F1 hard drive has been a fan favorite among power users for its price to performance ratio, but the entire F1 series will soon be replaced with updated models, according to news and rumor site The Inquirer.

Reading like something out of a B-movie script, The Inq. claims to have spied some documents dangling out of a Samsung executive's briefcase.

"At the top of one of the documents, we saw an 'F1' had been crossed out and replaced with an 'F3.' At first we wondered whether Max Mosely might have cracked his legal whip down on Samsung's back, but we soon came to understand that, in fact, it was Samsung's next price list - due out in July," wrote Sylvie Barak of The Inquirer.

Without an official statement from Samsung, we can only speculate what the new line will bring to the table, but it will more than likely replace the F1 as Samsung's flagship series. In addition to upping the performance ante, the F3 could also usher in 1.5TB and 2TB capacities, both of which are missing from the F1 line.

Tired of seeing dingy ol’ Orgrimmar day in and day out? Unable to play nice with your buddies in the Alliance? Recently perform the biggest guild heist in recorded history and need to flee the country and start a new life to get The Law off your tail? Well, looks like the planets have aligned in your favor, because faction changes are no longer just a pipe dream (or, in some cases, nightmare) for WoW players.

"The basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm," Blizzard wrote. "There's still much work to do and many details to iron out."

“As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used.”

Perhaps, then, this service will finally dispel the thick, foggy stereotypes that cling to both factions, uniting players by allowing them to take a stroll in one another’s chainmail greaves. Horde and Alliance will meet in grocery stores, eye each other’s respective Mtn Dew bottles, and – instead of engaging in low-budget CG combat – meet with a warm embrace. The CG budget will then be spent on one of those studio audiences that goes “D’aaaaaawwww.”

Or, if the service is badly implemented, Horde and Alliance will unite in one giant, 12-million-strong wail of disdain for Blizzard. So either way, the two supposedly disparate sides are about to get a lot closer together.

It’s the end of an era. Gold farming -– the oh-so-reviled practice that even tops Communism and depressing thoughts about Guns N’ Roses on some people’s lists of “Things Immediately Associated with China” -– has been dealt a potentially fatal blow.

As of June 29, trading virtual currency for real goods or services is illegal in China. In other words, closing your eyes and chucking a bit of real-life coin into games like WoW won’t land you in a Scrooge McDuck-esque pool of in-game gold; it’ll land you in prison.

The Chinese government justified the ban saying that, by drawing this line between real and virtual currency, it hopes to crack down on “gambling and other illegal online activities.” It is important to note, however, that in-game gear apparently isn’t considered currency, so corralling and selling virtual items to those willing to spend hard-earned cash on a videogame (yet not willing to play said videogame) may still be legal.

A 2008 study conducted by Richard Heeks at Manchester University found that 80% to 85% of gold farmers are located in China. Obviously, then, this ban is a pretty huge deal. Granted, we’re talking about the guys and gals who managed to -– in the face of pressure from game companies -- continue peddling their services by spelling out ads through rows upon rows of meticulously organized in-game corpses, so we doubt China’s gold farming population will go down without a fight.

Gateway’s trademark cow is long dead, but that doesn’t mean the company can’t be its quirky old self—something the FX6800 gaming rig illustrates perfectly. With its itsy-bitsy, microATX board, “I don’t care about appearances” wiring, and moderate price, you’d think the box would be easily outclassed by the custom, hand-built PCs we see every month. Well, think again.

The FX6800’s secret is under the hood. While the majority of the machines we’ve tested lately are still running overclocked Core 2 Extreme CPUs, Gateway reached for the midrange Core i7-940. The top-end CPU may be the speed king, but we seriously wondered if a stock-clocked, 2.93GHz Core i7-940 could even hang with those 4GHz Core 2 Extreme rigs.

Imagine having your car serviced and finding 100 unexplained miles on the odometer, plus evidence that burglary tools had been stashed in the trunk. Would you be pissed? I was.

Except it was my computer, not my car, that a repair shop messed with.

We’re so focused on threats coming from the Internet that it’s easy to forget the hazards closer to home. The best antivirus software, firewalls, and spyware scanners are worthless when someone violates a trusted relationship. Maybe you can learn from my experience.

On my old Windows XP PC, I used Audacity to record music, etc., from the Internet with great results.

Recently I bought a Dell XPS 420 with Windows Vista 64-bit and now Audacity (or even the PC’s Creative Sound recording software) can’t record any audio. I came across some related forums and tried a couple of suggestions (check disabled items on the Sound properties, etc.), which haven’t worked.

In XP I used the Stereo Mix setting in Audacity but in Vista I don’t have that option. And recording from the mic isn’t an option, either. Is this a Vista “feature”? If so, how can I record audio from the Internet? Vista has grown on me so I’d rather not downgrade to XP.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad S12 is the soul of a netbook trapped in the anatomy of a notebook. It has now become clear that Lenovo plans to release three variants of this 12-inch netbook, which it had announced as the world’s first Ion-based netbook last month – the Ion-based SKU will be available later in the summer. Lenovo has begun accepting pre-orders for a Nano-based variant of this netbook. Of course, an Atom-powered SKU is also available.

The Via Nano powered IdeaPad S12 features a VIA Nano ULV 2250 processor and VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics. The combination is expected to outperform the Atom-based S12 variant, featuring the Atom N270 processor along with Intel 945GSE chipset. The Nano-powered S12 can be ordered for $449, whereas its Atom-toting counterpart is priced $499.

It has benefited greatly from being on the vanguard of the netbook revolution – Aspire One is the best selling netbook. Its streetwise, efficient sales model can also be credited for its success.

"We collect the order from the customer, place the order with the manufacturer and they ship it," Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci told the New York Times. He added that Acer doesn’t lay its hands on the goods. Dell on the other hand has a plethora of troubles to contend with.

The Japanese have peculiar tastes, be it in video games or gadgets. The whimsical idiosyncrasies of a group of Japanese technology enthusiasts with very peculiar tastes have manifest themselves in the form of the Akiduki Pulse box, a device that automatically tweets your heart rate to your buddies. The user needs to press a particular button for a few seconds to send his heart rate to his friends on Twitter. The device, which has been developed by a group named Koress Project, is open source. The group intends to commercialize the device at some point in the future. The Akiduki Pulse box may one day emerge as the world’s first fully automated web-based death announcement device.

If you were frustrated by trying to figure out which edition of Windows Vista was the right choice ("hmm...If I use Vista Business, I don't get Windows Media Center, but if I use Vista Home Premium, I don't get image backup..."), Microsoft has done us all a favor by rethinking the feature sets for Windows 7.

Yes, there are still multiple SKUs to consider, but this time, you no longer need to worry about what's left out if you move up from one edition to another. To find out how the different US editions of Windows 7 compare in features, what Microsoft is doing to satisfy EU regulators, and what it will cost you to pre-order a Windows 7 upgrade now compared to waiting until it ships, join us after the jump.